You might sometimes need to manually select to scan for hardware changes when Windows doesn’t immediately recognize (detect) devices connected. In this case, the peripheral won’t be visible in Device Manager. Running scans for detecting hardware changes can also resolve driver-related issues and hardware conflicts.
This is how you can scan for hardware changes on your Windows PC.
How to Scan For Hardware Changes With Device Manager
Device Manager is the utility for managing peripherals on Windows PCs. That tool includes aScan for hardware changesoption you can select, which pretty much does what its label says. You can select that option in the Device Manager as follows:
Alternatively, right-click a device and selectScan for hardware changeson its context menu. It’s recommended to do that for devices showing exclamation marks. The exclamation mark highlights there’s an issue with the device, which selectingScan for hardware changescould fix.
you may also select theScan for hardware devicesoption to reinstall a device driver. To uninstall a device, right-click on it to select theUninstall Deviceoption; select theAttempt to remove driverfor this device orDelete drivercheckbox on the prompt that appears and clickUninstall. Then selectScan for hardware devicesas outlined above.
How to Scan For Hardware Changes From the Computer Management Tool
Computer Management Tool is a utility that incorporates the Device Manager. So, you can also select Device Manager’sScan for hardware changesoption within the Computer Management window as follows:
How to Scan For Hardware Changes From the Command Prompt
The Command Prompt has a pnputil.exe utility with which you’re able to scan for hardware changes on a PC. PnPUtil is a driver management command-line tool for adding and removing device drivers. This is how you can scan for hardware changes from the Command Prompt with that tool:
You’ll see a “Scanning for device hardware changes” message after command execution. The scanning probably won’t take long. Close the Command Prompt when you see the “Scan complete” message.
How to Scan For Hardware Changes With a Desktop Shortcut
You can also create a desktop shortcut for scanning for detecting hardware changes based on the PnPUtil command. Such a shortcut will enable you to run the scan devices command directly from the desktop without entering it. These are the steps forcreating a command desktop shortcutthat scans for hardware changes.
You can now scan for hardware changes with the desktop shortcut whenever needed. Double-clicking the Scan for hardware changes shortcut will run the scan-devices command.
Troubleshoot Hardware-Related Issues by Scanning for Hardware Changes
Manually scanning for hardware changes is a Windows troubleshooting method that can fix some hardware-related issues. TheScan for hardware changesoption is mostly useful for detecting older hardware peripherals that Windows might not always automatically recognize and reinstalling drivers when devices aren’t working right.
